Breakfast Never Tasted Better With These Pancake Perfections

Thanks to our friends at Innit [www.innit.com], an extensive culinary ecosystem that guides users from store to the table, is presenting 7 delicious healthy pancake ideas packed full of healthy goodness — that you can make with classic, gluten-free, or paleo batter.

1. GLUTEN-FREE AVOCADO PANCAKES
Combine these two popular items — avocado and pancakes — and start your day off the right way. The best part? You can use several different toppings, including salsa, cotija cheese, or cilantro.

Siri Says, “I used to rise and shine.

But now I drink a cup of coffee and hope for the best.”

Three or More Cups of Coffee Daily Halves Mortality Risk in Patients with Both HIV and HCV

Novel five-year study highlights importance of behaviors such as coffee drinking and not smoking on health and survival of HIV-infected patients, report investigators in the Journal of Hepatology

Patients infected by both human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are at specific risk of end-stage liver disease and greater risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. In addition, HIV infection accelerates the progression of chronic hepatitis C to fibrosis and development of cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease.

In these HIV-HCV co-infected patients, drinking at least three cups of coffee each day halved the risk of all-cause mortality according to a new study published in the Journal of Hepatology.

This study is the first to investigate the relationship between coffee consumption and the risk of all-cause mortality in HIV-HCV co-infected patients. “This is a very exciting time for HCV research as a cure that can eradicate the virus is now available for all patients,” explained lead investigator Dominique Salmon-Céron, MD, PhD, of the Service des Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales, Hôpital Cochin, and Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France. “However, even when cured of HCV, patients co-infected with HIV have a higher risk of death with respect to the general population, due to an accelerated aging process that may result from cancer, complications related to diabetes and to liver disease, and from cardiovascular events.”

Coffee is known to have anti-inflammatory and liver-protective properties. In the general population, drinking three or more cups of coffee a day has been found to be associated with a 14% reduction in the risk of all-cause mortality. This is probably due to the properties of polyphenols contained in coffee that can protect the liver and also reduce inflammation.

Investigators used data from a five-year follow-up of 1,028 HIV-HCV co-infected patients enrolled in the French national ANRS CO13-HEPAVIH cohort. ANRS CO13-HEPAVIH is an ongoing French nationwide prospective cohort of HIV-HCV co-infected patients that collects both medical and psychosocial/behavioral data over time via annual self-administered questionnaires.

At enrolment, one in four patients reported drinking at least three cups of coffee daily. Over the five years, 77 deaths occurred, almost half attributable to hepatitis C. However, the mortality risk was 80% lower in those who were cured of (i.e. who “cleared”) hepatitis C thanks to treatment.

Further analysis showed that drinking at least three cups of coffee daily was associated with a 50% reduction in mortality risk even after taking into account HCV clearance, HIV- and HCV-related factors, and other sociobehavioral factors, such as having a steady partner and not smoking. Healthy behavior change should be promoted by physicians following HCV clearance.

This research highlights the importance of behaviors – coffee consumption and not smoking in particular – on reduced mortality risk. These results can help promote behavioral changes in HIV-HCV patients, which in turn can result in improved survival. With respect to coffee consumption, individuals who do not drink coffee because of caffeine can still benefit from the comparable anti-inflammatory effects of decaffeinated coffee.

First author Maria Patrizia Carrieri, PhD, of the HEPAVIH Study Group, Faculté de Médecine, Aix Marseille University, INSERM, IRD, SESSTIM, Marseilles, France, observed that coffee consumption provides more protective effects on mortality in the HIV-HCV population than in the general population.

“The results of our study show that while curing HCV is fundamental, it must be complemented by behavioral changes if we are to improve health and survival in HIV-infected patients whether or not they cleared HCV. “I think we need to better monitor coffee consumption, together with other behaviors, such as alcohol use, smoking, physical activity, and to propose interventions to our patients which facilitate healthy behaviors even after HCV clearance. We also suggest that those patients who cannot tolerate a high intake of caffeine should consider drinking a few cups of decaffeinated coffee a day,” commented Dr. Salmon-Céron. “Accordingly, I believe that the benefits of coffee extracts and supplementing dietary intake with other anti-inflammatory compounds need to be evaluated in HIV-HCV patients.”

Attached files

Drinking three or more cups of coffee a day halves mortality risk from all causes in HIV-HCV co-infected patients.

A Prospective Study of Caffeine Intake and Risk of Incident Tinnitus

Background

Caffeine is a commonly consumed substance that has been thought to play a role in the development of tinnitus, but prospective data are lacking. We prospectively evaluated the association between caffeine intake and self-reported tinnitus in a female cohort.

Methods

Participants were 65,085 women in the Nurses’ Health Study II, aged 30 to 44 years and without tinnitus at baseline in 1991, who completed questionnaires about lifestyle and medical history every 2 years and food frequency questionnaires every 4 years. Information on self-reported tinnitus and date of onset was obtained from the 2009 questionnaire, with cases defined as those reporting experiencing symptoms “a few days/week” or “daily.” Multivariable adjusted hazard ratios were calculated using Cox proportional hazards regression models.

Results

At baseline, the mean age of the cohort was 36.3 years and the mean caffeine intake was 242.3 mg/d. After 18 years of follow-up, 5289 incident cases of tinnitus were reported. There was a significant inverse association between caffeine intake and the incidence of tinnitus. Compared with women with caffeine intake less than 150 mg/d (150 mg corresponds to ∼ one 8-ounce cup of coffee), the multivariable adjusted hazard ratios were 0.85 (95% confidence interval, 0.76-0.95) for those who consumed 450 to 599 mg/d and 0.79 (0.68-0.91) for those who consumed 600 mg/d or more.

Conclusions

In this prospective study, higher caffeine intake was associated with a lower risk of incident tinnitus in women.

This recipe from the New Orleans-based restaurant pairs crisp, lemony Swiss chard fritters with creamy feta and a radish-fennel salad.

From the Wall Street Journal.

There’s no way to lose with these ingredients, especially when you deep fry the fritters in ghee. You probably don’t need three inches of oil either. That sounds like something a pro would do.

With a Summer veggie garden largess, swiss chard, radishes and fennel are always more abundant than we can eat. We saw this recipe and decided to take a page from the best of our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) organizations and share recipes for the goodies being distributed to the community. Feel free to play around with the ingredients and experiment with what’s growing in your garden.

The Chef: Susan Spicer

Her Restaurants: Bayona and Mondo, both in New Orleans

What She’s Known For: Bringing easygoing grace to fine dining in the Crescent City. Delivering global flavors with classical-French finesse.

SUSAN SPICER RUNS a democratic kitchen. “It’s the stone soup approach,” she said. “Everyone has something to add. I want cooks to feel invested.” She credits Amarys Herndon, her sous-chef at Bayona, for this dish of chard fritters with whipped feta and a fennel-radish salad. “Amarys made this for a special one night, and I was like, ‘That is the best thing I have ever tasted with chard,’ ” she said. “Though I like greens, chard is probably my least favorite; it can taste too earthy. But these fritters were lighter than I expected. They really elevated the chard experience.” The batter, made of shredded chard, beaten egg and chickpea flour, quickly fries up into airy puffs, crisp on the outside and creamy within. Finding the right way to complete the plate was largely intuitive. “The fritters felt Greek to me,” Ms. Spicer explained. “That’s why we used feta and lemon in the sauce.” The shaved radish and fennel provide needed contrast: “If we do something fried, we like to put a nice, fresh element in there too

Ingredients

Swiss Chard Fritters With Feta, Fennel and Radish

Total Time: 35 minutes Serves: 4

2 bunches Swiss chard, stems removed and leaves roughly chopped

1 cup chickpea flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

3 eggs

½ cup soda water

1 tablespoon lemon zest, plus juice of half a lemon

1 teaspoon finely grated garlic

2 tablespoons finely chopped dill, plus sprigs for garnish

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon Aleppo pepper

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil, for frying and drizzling

1 cup feta cheese, at room temperature

½ cup cream cheese, at room temperature

6 radishes, thinly sliced

2 small fennel bulbs, thinly sliced

Directions

1. In a food processor, pulse chard until finely shredded. Remove ⅔ of chard and set aside in a large bowl.

4. In a medium pot over medium-high heat, bring 3 inches oil to 350 degrees. Use a deep-fat or candy thermometer to monitor temperature and keep it steady throughout cooking.

5. Meanwhile, clean bowl of food processor. Add feta and cream cheese and process until fluffy. Season with lemon juice and salt. Set aside. In a medium bowl, toss radishes and fennel slices with a squeeze of lemon juice, a light drizzle of olive oil and salt to taste. Set aside.

6. Use a ladle to add 3 tablespoons batter to oil. Working in batches, fry 4 fritters at a time until crisp and puffy, about 2 minutes per side. Use a slotted spoon to transfer fritters to a paper-towel-lined plate and season with salt.

Caffeine Has Positive Effect On Tau Deposits In Alzheimer’s

As part of a German-French research project, a team led by Dr. Christa E. Müller from the University of Bonn and Dr. David Blum from the University of Lille was able to demonstrate for the first time that caffeine has a positive effect on tau deposits in Alzheimer’s disease. The two-years project was supported with 30,000 Euro from the non-profit Alzheimer Forschung Initiative e.V. (AFI) and with 50,000 Euro from the French Partner organization LECMA. The initial results were published in the online edition of the journal “Neurobiology of Aging.”

Tau deposits, along with beta-amyloid plaques, are among the characteristic features of Alzheimer’s disease. These protein deposits disrupt the communication of the nerve cells in the brain and contribute to their degeneration. Despite intensive research there is no drug available to date which can prevent this detrimental process. Based on the results of Prof. Dr. Christa Müller from the University of Bonn, Dr. David Blum and their team, a new class of drugs may now be developed for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

Caffeine, an adenosine receptor antagonist, blocks various receptors in the brain which are activated by adenosine. Initial results of the team of researchers had already indicated that the blockade of the adenosine receptor subtype A2A in particular could play an important role. Initially, Prof. Müller and her colleagues developed an A2A antagonist in ultrapure and water-soluble form (designated MSX-3). This compound had fewer adverse effects than caffeine since it only blocks only the A2A adenosine receptor subtype, and at the same time it is significantly more effective. Over several weeks, the researchers then treated genetically altered mice with the A2A antagonist. The mice had an altered tau protein which, without therapy, leads to the early development of Alzheimer’s symptoms.

In comparison to a control group which only received a placebo, the treated animals achieved significantly better results on memory tests. The A2A antagonist displayed positive effects in particular on spatial memory. Also, an amelioration of the pathogenic processes was demonstrated in the hippocampus, which is the site of memory in rodents.

“We have taken a good step forward,” says Prof. Müller. “The results of the study are truly promising, since we were able to show for the first time that A2A adenosine receptor antagonists actually have very positive effects in an animal model simulating hallmark characteristics and progression of the disease. And the adverse effects are minor.”

The researchers now want to test the A2A antagonist in additional animal models. If the results are positive, a clinical study may follow. “Patience is required until A2A adenosine receptor antagonists are approved as new therapeutic agents for Alzheimer’s disease. But I am optimistic that clinical studies will be performed,” says Prof. Müller.